A&P by John Updike is a short story that embodies the theme of power, desire, and nonconformity. It begins when three young ladies, clad in revealing bathing suits, walk into the A&P grocery store. The narrator, Sammy, is a cashier clerk for the store and immediately notices the girls. He is quick to think about the girls’ appearances and movements, describing them in a lewd manner in a casual, thoughts on paper style. Many of the customers show their disapproval of the teenage girls’ appearance, however, the men in the store looked upon the girls with lust, including McMahon, the meat clerk, and Lengel, the store manager. Lengel later chastises the girls for their indecent attire and possibly eludes to the fact that the girls know that they …show more content…
By not showing interest in the men’s desire for them, they are in the position of power. We know that the men were lusting after the girls by the way that Sammy describes the course of events. Sammy states how the girls have an effect on him, describing how his stomach had begun to rub the inside of his apron. This insinuates to the idea that he had begun to gain an erection from watching Queenie turn slowly. Stokesie, though married, acknowledges the girls' sexual appearance by jokingly saying, “Oh Daddy… I feel so faint” (line 74). In addition, McMahon, the meat clerk, had a rather piggish reaction to the girls, as he had looked upon them as …show more content…
Being that he is a Sunday school teacher and the manager of the store, he chastises them for wearing indecent clothing. He does this because he feels like his power in the store was dwindling by them wearing whatever they wanted and felt guilty for feeling such a way about the girls. He doesn’t like how the girls have elicited his and the other men’s desire for them. Lengel also hints to the fact that the girls know that their bathing suits are inappropriate by repeating that the store wasn’t a beach two times (lines 119, 131). Queenie realizes that he is trying to exude his power over her by forcing her to conform to a certain dress code for the store. She tells him that she and her friends are decently dressed, attempting to take the power back and insinuating that he is the one being inappropriate for making a big deal out of their bathing suits. Having discussed the theme of power and desire, the next theme to analyze is nonconformity. The girls’ bathing suits, themselves, are a symbol of freedom and disregard for social rules. The bathing suits also convey the girls’ deliberate provocation, as insinuated by Lengel. Even the way the girls were walking about the store, shows that they were against the natural flow. While all the customers were going one way, following a routine of checking their shopping lists and such, the girls were walking against them, moving
Additionally, Sammy’s thoughts about “Queenie” continue to evoke some sense of irony. His depiction of “Queenie’s” “oaky hair” and her “prim face”, which he claims are add to his positive descriptions of her because she was very courageous to enter A & P with her swimsuit’s straps down (Updike 339). All this time Sammy gives us the image of a naked girl but later clothes her with confidence to enter the stores in a bathing suit. Also, Sammy falls deep in his captivation that he does not mind “Queenie’s” pale skin and continues to sexualize her as his sight moves down her body: “She held her head so high her neck, coming up out of those white shoulders, looked kind of stretched, but I didn’t mind” (Updike 339). The longer her neck is the more
The grocery store symbolizes the social “norms” within a society and Sammy’s fear of living a boring and mundane life. While watching the girls shop, Sammy describes the grocery store and everything in it using bland, generic language. As he watched, he noticed that “the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) -- were pretty hilarious. You could see them, when Queenie's white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed. I bet you could set off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering ‘Let me see, there was a third thing, began with A, asparagus, no, ah, yes, applesauce’ or whatever it is they do mutter.”
The three girls walk in the grocery store with their beach outfits and get
John Updike's short story "A&P" is about a 19-year-old boy “Sammy” who is going through changes in his life, and has to make crucial decisions that are going to affect his job and his future in the long run. The story is set in an A&P grocery store, in a town north of Boston, and begins with Sammy’s description of the three girls that enter the store. Sammy decides to quit his job in order to impress the girl “Queenie.” Unfortunately, his gentlemanly act goes unnoticed by Queenie and her friends, and he has no choice but to face the consequences of his action. The author of the story clarifies that Sammy’s immaturity comes from his judgmental attitude, sexist beliefs, and disrespectful attitude.
“A&P” by John Updike is a short story expressing the issues of female objectification and degradation in society by following a young A&P employee’s views (Sammy) as they change through experiences second hand. Sammy goes from stereotyping objectifier to a form of a public defender, standing up for girls who can’t really do so for themselves. Sammy initially characterizes and describes all of the people in the store based on their looks and his initial opinion of them, rather than waiting to make judgements based on their personality, or not at all. He is very critical of looks, and is judgmental about why and how they look or act the way they do.
Sammy also states, “there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head, except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in light. I mean, it was more than pretty” (Updike, par 3). Sammy feels sexual attraction towards these girls, their physical attributes mesmerize him. At first, Sammy seems to come off as a sexist teen, but later he tries to prove that he is different. Sammy’s boss, Lengel, confronts the girls and calls them out for their attire.
They represent the personal freedom that they can dress anything they like in public. Then, there comes Lengel who is the most traditional person in the story. He judges the girls’ bathing suit, and calls that indecent. It means at that time people’s freedoms are still under oppressed. People should be conformed and obey authority.
This helps the reader visualize a sarcastic and frustrated cashier ringing up an impatient customer. Sammy refers to the customers as “sheep” in paragraph five because of their conformity and slow mosey throughout the store also making the three girls stick out more. In paragraph 2, Sammy refers to one of the girls as a “queen” using a direct metaphor as if she truly was a Queen. This reinforces Sammy’s observant mind and way he breaks down each girl. Whether his opinion was positive or negative, deducing women by their looks and staring at their chests, “this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light,”(3), does nothing but further supplement the idea that these three girls are being watched just because of their choice in attire.
The story takes place on a hot, summer day at a grocery store called the “A&P”. The protagonist is a nineteen year old male cashier by the name of Sammy. The central conflict occurs when Sammy watches three girls in bathing suits enter into the store to buy some herring snacks. Sammy gleefully watches them and gets attracted to the middle girl, “Queenie”, eventually being infatuated for her.
Sammy’s decision is stated by all as a terrible mistake. Sammy slips out of his slot and walks straight towards the door and walks out without looking back. Not surprisingly he thinks to himself, “I look around for my girls, but they're gone, of course.” While trying to use a heroic gesture to feel equivalent to the girls they seem to have not appreciated the gesture and leave.
The setting takes place in a suburban neighborhood like an area in the United States around the 1950's to 1960's. The mentalities of the people in the citizens reflect conformist tendencies of the community because they are negatively judgmental when they notice the girls in the story. The A&P store and customers of the story shape the time and setting to establish what is taking the place of the setting during that time. The A&P supermarket was arguably American's premier grocery store during the 1960s. Therefore, setting the scene of the A&P supermarket highlights the era of the 1960s.
Courtney M. Minor Dr. Adaku T. Ankumah ENGL 102 20 June 2015 Sammy: The Dynamic Characters Changes come with life, rather their momentarily or permanent. Some changes are for the great of good while others can be out of an ounce or more of spite. A dynamic character is someone who undergoes change doing the course of a story.
Lengel does not appreciate how the girls are dressed because he deems it both inappropriate and unacceptable. These girls are characterized as tourists who were enjoying their time at the beach, located 5 miles away from A&P.
This crafts a story with a in-depth focus on the mind of a character, who makes the choice to rebel because of three girls wearing swimsuits in a grocery store. Therefore, the distinct voice that Sammy possess ultimately gives the story a feeling of youth and
The grocery store was not that busy, informed in the story that “The stores pretty empty, it being Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again” (Updike 475). Sammy did not miss the opportunity to keep his eyes on the girls, especially since he was instantly interested in Queenie who was introduced to us as the leader among the girls. Each of the girls was different and had bathing suits on. Sammy was very descriptive about each bathing suit; he included many details. Queenie “had on a kind of dirty-pink beige maybe, I don’t know bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down, they were off the shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms, and I guess"(Updike 473).